CanPol - Biker chicks and secret documents

[DaShi]

See the panties thread.

[Wezil]

CanPol - Biker chicks and secret documents

OTTAWA — Maxime Bernier has been ousted as Canada's foreign affairs minister over his sloppy handling of secret cabinet documents -- an error condemned as "very grave" by Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

The embattled Quebec MP, who has come under mounting pressure to resign over his past romantic links with a woman with former ties to the Hells Angels, will be replaced in the short term by David Emerson.

"He told me he has left classified cabinet documents in a place that was not secure," a visibly shaken Harper announced last night. "Evidently this is an error that is very grave. We will review this incident."

Harper said he accepted Bernier's resignation yesterday afternoon -- just hours after he defensively brushed off Opposition concerns during a noon news conference. But the PM insisted Bernier's departure has nothing to do with his past romantic links to Julie Couillard.

"I don't think it matters who a minister is dating, I don't think it matters anything about the private life of a private citizen," he said. "What matters here is that rules respecting classified government documents were broken."

In an exclusive interview with canoe.tv last night, Couillard revealed Bernier left a cabinet document at her home.


"It was a document that was addressed to Maxime and it was not for my eyes. I did not read it. I was very uncomfortable," she said. "And I was panicked by the fact that I had that at my house especially after hearing in our House of Commons that I could have possibly been a threat for national security."

Couillard said she called her lawyer for advice, and the document was returned to the government.

Bernier issued a statement last night admitting his mistake, thanking the PM for the trust shown in him and vowing to continue his work as an MP.

"Prime Minister, the security breach that occurred was my fault and my fault alone and I take full responsibility for my actions," he wrote.

Harper, who had brushed off Opposition concerns for weeks and defending Bernier's "private life," conceded the incident was a black mark for the Conservatives.

"Obviously I am very disappointed, I'm very disappointed for the government, disappointed for Maxime. It's very unfortunate. Maxime became aware of this, he told me, late last evening and informed me this afternoon," he said.

"I accepted his resignation right away and we spent the last couple of hours putting the mechanisms in place for the transition."

But outraged Opposition MPs aren't prepared to let the issue lie with Bernier's resignation. Liberal MP Ralph Goodale said Canadians deserve answers on whether national security was put at risk and if the government has a plan to restore the foreign affairs department's reputation.

"The prime minister has been very dismissive of this situation for at least three weeks now despite the questions," Goodale said. "The prime minister has a lot of explaining to do because there is a lot of information and a lot of detail yet to pursue."

NDP Leader Jack Layton called Bernier's latest gaffe the "straw that broke the camel's back on a series of incompetencies" and demanded to know why the PM didn't take the issue more seriously when grilled about Bernier's former girlfriend.

"I think there are all kinds of questions," said Layton. "When the prime minister comes and just simply says there were some documents set aside in a way that made them assessable to other people everybody wants to know what the heck we are talking about here."

More at http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Politics...74646-sun.html


Julie Couillard

[Rufus T. Firefly]

"He told me he has left classified cabinet documents in a place that was not secure," a visibly shaken Harper announced last night. "Evidently this is an error that is very grave. We will review this incident."

Having the PM say, effectively, "I have no idea what the rules are for handling classified material, but my people tell me this is a no-no" is pretty disturbing, even if it is just a politician reflexively qualifying everything he says.

[Wezil]

It is compounded by the fact the Opposition has been asking about issues of security wrt this issue for weeks now and the PM has been brushing them off as gossip mongers. To now have to publicly admit there was indeed a security breach is pretty damning. It speaks to the PM's judgment (or lack thereof).

[Asher]

She looks like Cutty from House.

[Wezil]

A chronology of quotes:


May 8:

"Can the minister of foreign affairs tell us if his former personal friend has ever had access, even inadvertently, to any official briefing materials of the government of Canada?" - Liberal MP Ralph Goodale.

-

"I am not going to inquire into the private conversations they have with their spouses. I am not sure why anything that goes on between partners and why these kinds of personal relationships are a matter of public business." - Government House Leader Peter Van Loan replying to Goodale.

-

"It is quite clear that these are politically motivated, personal attacks on someone's private life, which have no place in the House of Commons." - Van Loan.

-

"Never did I think I'd get such a nasty and low attack from an opposition party. This concerns my private life, the private life in the past of my former girlfriend, and the private lives of people are none of your business." - Bernier.

-

"I hear that one of my cabinet ministers has an ex-girlfriend. It's none of my business. It's none of Mr. (Gilles) Duceppe's business. It's none of Mr. (Stephane) Dion's business. Mr. Duceppe and Mr. Dion are quite a group of gossipy old busybodies." - Prime Minister Stephen Harper, on the Bloc Quebecois and Liberal leaders.


May 9:

"The prime minister has absolutely no intention of controlling, regulating or monitoring the dating lives of the caucus." - Van Loan.

-

"This government takes very seriously national security issues. We do not see that asking questions about the private lives of ministers in the fashion that the opposition has fits that bill." - Van Loan.


May 11:

"To go into the private lives of the spouses, the partners of all members of Parliament . . . I think that's a little bit excessive. If you started to spread that to spouses, to partners, and then of course you'd have to include children, I mean, this thing would get out of hand." - Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day.


May 12:

"We have made it quite clear that this government would not put our national security at risk. However, it also should not provide an excuse for the kind of prurient, silly questions we have been hearing from the opposition." - Van Loan.


May 13:

"As leader, I really do wish that I would know more about the dates of my caucus members. I certainly encourage them to bring them around to my office so I can at least meet them and to assure me that they will be able to be in question period the next day." - Harper.

-

"This is about a Liberal leader with no policies, no vision. But he sure has a taste for salacious gossip and he does not mind seeing his party lowered to personal attacks." - Van Loan.

-

"The government has not put national security at risk. Once again, we are speaking of the private life of a person and we continue to insist on that position." - Transport Minister Lawrence Cannon.


May 16:

"This is not an issue of national security. We have made it clear that this government would not put national security at risk." - Van Loan.


Monday:

"I have no intention of commenting on a minister's former girlfriend. I don't take this subject seriously." - Harper, just before he learned that Bernier had left the classified documents at Couillard's home.

-

"I don't think it matters who a minister is dating. What matters here is that rules respecting government classified documents were broken." - Harper announcing Bernier's resignation.


Tuesday:

"This has nothing to do with Madame Couillard. This was the unfortunate error, the unfortunate actions of the minister that are at issue here." - Harper.

-

"As we've said, private lives are private lives and the government of Canada does not intend to get into the business of investigating private citizens." - Harper.

-

"I have absolutely no information that would suggest that is true." - Harper on Couillard's claim that a listening device appeared to have been planted in, and removed from, her apartment.

From: http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Politics...684351-cp.html

[Asher]

I'm still extremely bored by the whole thing. Who cares.

I'm having a hard time thinking of what anything the Canadian government has that should be classified.

[Wezil]

Originally posted by Asher
I'm still extremely bored by the whole thing. Who cares.

I'm having a hard time thinking of what anything the Canadian government has that should be classified.

Fair enough. Why not try this thread?

http://www.apolyton.net/forums/showthread.php?threadid=177645

[SlowwHand]

Originally posted by Asher
She looks like Cutty from House.

She looks like claymation or something. Lara Croft-like.

[Asher]

Originally posted by Wezil


Fair enough. Why not try this thread?

http://www.apolyton.net/forums/showt...hreadid=177645

I hate panties and the creatures that wear them.

[Asher]

Has anyone else notice all Canadian federal politics scandals seem to involve frenchies?

[Krill]

It's Cuddy, not Cutty.

[Wezil]

It's nothing without a pic.

[Asher]

Originally posted by Krill
It's Cuddy, not Cutty.

geek

[Krill]

*shrug* need to have something playing in the background while revising. Might as well be House.